Although Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (AATD) is one of the most common genetic disorders in the world, it is often either misdiagnosed or goes undetected completely. Instead, patients seeking treatment are often told they have bronchitis, COPD, asthma, or even emphysema related to smoking.
Contrast Creative produced a video for Grifols, a global healthcare company, to commemorate November as Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Awareness Month, as well as encourage plasma donors to recommit to the donation process. The video, which features three Alpha-1 patients, will be shown online and in all of Grifols donation centers across the country. Grifols is a major manufacturer of many of the leading plasma medications, including augmentation therapy for AATD.
Why did Grifols choose to communicate their message via video? Video production can be one of the most effective ways for a business to get information to their target population.
In fact, a recent study from aimClear showed that videos in universal search results have a 41% higher click-through rate than plain text results.
That means that anyone looking for information on Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency will be much more likely to watch the video Contrast Creative produced for Grifols than read about it in print. And that’s good news for Alpha-1 Awareness, and for Grifols.
So what is Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (AATD), and why is it so elusive? Alpha-1 is a rare hereditary genetic disorder that develops when your body has a lower level of the protein AAT than is needed to protect your lungs and liver from serious damage and disease. Common symptoms of Alpha-1 can include shortness of breath, a chronic cough, wheezing or non-responsive asthma, recurrent respiratory infections, deteriorating lung function and abnormal liver test results. A common denominator is constant difficulty breathing. Many patients describe being severely winded climbing a flight of stairs or walking uphill, many for years before diagnosis, attributing their breathlessness to being out of shape, or related to age. As the disease progresses, many Alphas require oxygen, as much as 24 hours a day.
Despite there being a free test for Alpha-1, many pulmonologists frequently don’t think to test for it. Testing could aid in decisions about whether your children or other family members should be checked. The test is simple and requires only a few drops of blood. Early diagnosis can improve outcomes of AATD. If you are diagnosed with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, what comes next?
Though there is no cure for Alpha-1, there are medical therapies that can help patients who are living with AATD. One of the most important is a treatment regimen derived from human plasma called augmentation therapy. The goal of the only FDA-approved therapy for this condition is to increase the concentration of the AAT protein in the blood and lungs. Patients receive weekly infusions of this augmentation therapy either at home or in an infusion center. Because human donors are needed to manufacture plasma medications, people diagnosed with Alpha-1, and many other patients with other diseases and conditions, need plasma products – and donors – to survive.
“There’s no cure for Alpha-1. We can treat it with augmentation therapy, but that’s totally dependent on plasma donors giving plasma, ” says Alpha-1 donor recipient Gwendolyn Reichbach. Donating plasma is a lot like donating blood, except because your red blood cells are returned to you during the process, you can actually donate twice in a seven day period. Consider making a huge difference to someone in need with a life saving gift that only you can give.
“We’re very thankful, ” adds Sandra Cook, also an Alpha-1 donor recipient, “for people that go and take the time to come and donate their plasma.”